Albany ethics reform proposals ignore warnings of former JCOPE commissioner Ravi Batra

Ravi Batra : Albany makes sacred honor live in a spittoon

As Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-New York) negotiate ethics reforms up in Albany, Ravi Batra, a former JCOPE commissioner, says Albany wrongly refuses to grant ethics regulators the independence they need.

“If it wasn't for U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's righteous indignation for being used as a prop to sell the public a farce by Andrew Cuomo, there would be no Shelly Silver indictment or the latest hyperventilated reform proposals by a control-infected Albany,” Mr. Batra told Progress Queens.

The "Three Men In A Room" in Albany are negotiating ethics reforms in this year's state budget as U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating Albany officials. Albany keeps proposing incremental reforms, which have enforcement mechanisms that deliberately lack independence, charges attorney Ravi Batra.

READ MORE As Cuomo negotiates ethics reforms, Albany proposals ignore warnings of former JCOPE commissioner Ravi Batra (Progress Queens)

Corruption, with a capital "C" for "Cuomo"

Gov. Cuomo has not yet delivered on his promise to clean up Albany out of fear that he might implicate his political enablers, or, worse, himself

Taxpayers' best hope in cleaning up government corruption rests with U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara, who has proven his effectiveness operating outside of Albany. When former New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo ran for governor four years ago, he made a promise central to his campaign that he was going to clean up Albany of the scourge of political and campaign corruption. Four years later, Gov. Cuomo has done nothing to clean up Albany. Indeed, more and more state legislators keep getting indicted, arrested, or sentenced to jail for political or campaign corruption, and the corrupt legislators on top, like Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, remain firmly in power. This vacuum in progressive reform leadership has created a pass through which U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara has rode into Albany as the new out-of-town, anti-corruption sheriff that can't be bought off by the corrupt bandits running our government. The clock is about to tick "High Noon." The corrupt bandits still think the old rules of the broken political system apply, but the new sheriff with his federal posse are ready. Everybody microwave your popcorn, because the part where the sheriff cleans up the town is about to begin.

RELATED Corruption with a Capitol ‘C’ (The New York Daily News) Another Indictment in Albany (The New York Times) Albany outsider cracking down on corruption (The Democrat & Chronicle)

Long history of prosecutorial and ethical misconduct by Brooklyn D.A. Hynes triggers proposal for state disciplinary commission

In New York, the state Attorney General has lost control over his wayward District Attorneys. Now, the State Legislature wants to appoint a disciplinary commission to review the corrupt acts of the state's "Dirty D.A.'s"

RELATED Prosecutor misconduct commission moves forward in “Hynes” legislature (The Brooklyn Paper) After Bitter Election Loss, Charles Hynes Shredded His Office Documents : Sources (The New York Observer)

The New York State legislature, that swamp of corruption, is hoping to create an independent commission to investigate the prosecutorial misconduct of New York’s state prosecutors. The commission members would be able to recommend disciplinary actions against prosecutors engaging in "improper activity or whose performance displays a degree of incompetence not suited for the office," The Brooklyn Paper reported. The possibility that the state's district attorneys have become corrupt is too much for the state's attorney general, Eric Schneiderman, to handle. The only way hot political corruption cases like this can be handled is to outsource it to an incompetent commission, which Gov. Andrew Cuomo can then disband if the political heat becomes too much to bear, like what he did with the do-nothing Moreland Commission. The scandal with Brooklyn D.A. Hynes is only coming up now, because Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is investigating JCOPE ethics complaints and Moreland Commission corruption files. Were it not for Mr. Bharara's ongoing campaign to clean up government corruption, the city's lazy Department of Investigations would not have investigated any of the corrupt district attorneys in New York's five boroughs, much less D.A. Hynes. Naturally, there are rumors being shared amonst activists that the DOI probe into former D.A. Hynes may have been politically-motivated, like all the other take-downs in New York City. Of course, nothing is going to happen in respect of this proposed district attorney investigation commission, unless Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver blesses this commission, which voters know he won't, because Speaker Silver has a long history of enabling corruption all across New York state. But some New York City-based bloggers and activists privately wonder if just the fear of the idea of this commission will scare the crap out of some corrupt local district attorneys, like Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance, who many good government reform activists believe avoids prosecuting political corruption cases. Besides Mr. Vance, the new Brooklyn district attorney, Ken Thompson, also avoids thorny political cases. For example, Mr. Thompson failed to examine the slimy circumstances of how one of the mayor's loyal political supporters was allowed to basically get out jail for free. The long-time Queens district attorney, Richard Brown, refused to find any wrong-doing when the New York Police Department kidnapped and held prisoner the whistleblower Adrian Schoolcraft in the psychiatric ward of a Queens hospital. In New York, whenever political or law enforcement corruption becomes so bad, the only way the corrupt justice system handles it is by outsourcing the investigation to an independent commission or to an independent prosecutor, because the district attorney, attorney general, or federal prosecutor with normal jurisdiction doesn't want the political blowback from these kinds of investigations. Look at how the Staten Island district attorney appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the corrupt Working Families Party ; the Staten Island D.A. didn't want to touch that investigation. These kinds of cases are TOO HOT for the normal investigators to handle. Investigators race to outsource probes to others, who can either afford to take the political heat or who are too stupid to know the difference. But if only voters could see why these investigations have to get outsourced, then that would show voters how the justice system truly has become corrupt, because there should be no reason why there should be a "tale of two justice systems" for political corruption. Meanwhile, as Albany considers more and more layers of supervision over the state's crumbling law enforcement apparatus, it was reported this week that Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to appoint a chair to the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board, a do-nothing oversight panel meant to push papers about in respect of civilian complaints against the NYPD, in spite of the fact that the NYPD appear to be openly engaging in racing profiling in respect of the low-level marijuana arrests that police are making under the de Blasio administration.

Gary Tilzer Follows JCOPE Implosion

New York State Government In Crisis Mode : "The Wheels Are Coming Off State Government"

The political blogger Gary Tilzer continues to relentlessly post updates about the impact that the investigation into the settlement payments to claimants of sexual harassment against Assemblyman Vito Lopez has now spread and engulfed many politicians in Albany.

Just one recent example was the resignation of a critical member of the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics (JCOPE). The member resigned last Friday after having issued a scathing critique about the political machinations that interferes with the commission's due process and with its general operational independence.

"Without personal integrity, there can be no real public ethics ; only the farce of appearing ethical," wrote former JCOPE commission member Ravi Batra.

According to Mr. Tilzer, The New York Times minimised reporting about Mr. Batra's resignation from the JCOPE, which has now become widely viewed as politically-manipulated by the politicians, who make appointments to the ethics panel. If JCOPE is so compromised as to be rendered ineffective, then the state's governor, Andrew Cuomo, may exercise powers given him under the Moreland Act to investigate or appoint officials to a "Moreland Commission" to investigate corruption.

"NYT Also Buried the Batra Resignation With Only 38 Words . . . The NYT Did Not Report Any of the Charges Batra Made Is His Letter of Resignation," wrote Mr. Tilzer.

Commission Member Quits JCOPE ; Calls For Federal Investigation

Ravi Batra, a commissioner on the New York State Joint Commission on Public Ethics, has resigned due to reasons related to lax oversight by the JCOPE. Mr. Batra said he hoped that his resignation would force JCOPE to focus on "honest and independent ethics enforcement so as to actually restore public confidence in government and public service."
(True News From Change NYC)

Mr. Batra made a request for a federal investigation into wrongdoings at JCOPE. Because of strict confidentiality rules, which oppress whistleblowers, Mr. Batra said he could not provide details about his claims of shady dealings.

• RELATED : JCOPE Member Says “Au Revoir” And Resigns
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